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My Visit To Bachelor’s Grove…Just In Time?

I desperately wanted to go to Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery. Ever since I got the cemetery baseball card last Christmas I knew I just had to see it, now here I was only 30 miles away… yet it might as well have been 1,000.

A weird request

During my recent trip to Chicago I realized visiting Bachelors Grove Cemetery may not ever be in the cards for me. I hadn’t known that the cemetery would be 40 whole minutes from the hotel I was staying at, or that the cemetery would have strict rules regarding the time that it closes. I was warned by locals not to even try and enter the forest preserve after sunset, as the area police are reportedly very strict about this rule.

But I wasn’t about to give up so easily.

Since the cemetery was so far away a bus or cab was out of the question. So after some thought I knew my best bet was to convince a local or someone with a rental car to take me.

I was in Chicago for a work conference, and I knew very few people in the class. So I did what anyone would do in my situation (right?), I announced to the whole class that I planned on visiting a “haunted” cemetery 40 minutes away and needed a ride, and maybe a companion or two. My friend Diane volunteered to go right away so I had a companion, now my plan just needed another teeny tiny little part of the thing …a ride.

Matt to the rescue

No luck. No one took me up on the offer to take hours out of their evening driving us to and from a cemetery in the middle of the forest. Go figure.

Seriously though, I thought people would be clamoring at the chance to go on such an awesome outing but it was quite the opposite reaction. During the first class break multiple people came up to me and advised against my trip to Bachelor’s Grove. They told me me that it was unwise to go out into a strange city. After all anything could happen to me, did I hear about the school kids that were just shot while walking home from school? What exactly that had to do with Bachelor’s Grove I didn’t know, and I wasn’t discouraged.

Another classmate, Gae Lynne, volunteered to come along. So there were three of us now and all we needed was a ride. A little later a new person entered the classroom, Matt. I didn’t know Matt personally but I did know one very important piece of information: Matt lives in Chicago. I looked at Diane and said “Should I ask him? He wasn’t here when I made the announcement so…”

“Oh yes,” she said, “definitely ask him!” So I did.

Without hesitation he said “Sure I’ll take you, when do you want to go?”

So that was that and the next night, Diane, Gae Lynne, Matt, and I were off to Bachelor’s Grove…

Visiting Bachelor’s Grove – in pictures

I was super excited to get to the cemetery and couldn’t resist snapping tons of photos on the way. Matt was great and took us through many cool places in the city so we could have a tour of Chicago as well.This is Matt. Matt is awesome. Cemeteries aren’t for Matt though, so he stayed in the car.Walking up to the trail leading to the cemetery. I was giddy by this point. A little nervous, but mainly giddy. Diane and Gae Lynne must have thought I was nuts, but lots of people think I’m nuts, so that’s okay.Walking down the trail to Bachelors Grove was kind of surreal. I had seen so many photos of this trail that it felt like I had already been there. It was odd to recognize a place I had never been to before.

We only ran into one group of people the whole time and they were filming as they walked away from the cemetery. There was a little girl in the group and she said:“We didn’t see anything.”

There was no sign at the entrance of Bachelors Grove save for this trashcan. I wonder if the prior signs had been stolen? I am guessing even the worst vandals wouldn’t want to run away with a trash can though.When you first walk into Bachelors Grove you are immediately struck with images of vandalism. So many monuments have been knocked over and broken that it is impossible to know for sure who is buried where.Some areas of the cemetery looked more like a jungle. If you didn’t know better, it would be hard to believe this was once a very well tended cemetery with beautiful monuments and flowers.One of the few monuments actually standing in Bachelor’s Grove. This one looks like it was fixed recently.

I couldn’t visit Bachelor’s Grove without stopping and visiting infant daughter Fulton. She has become sort of a guardian for the cemetery. People who visit leave her small trinkets, flowers, and light candles. I left her a finger puppet in the shape of a moose. Being from Alaska I figured it was appropriate.

The infamous pond of Bachelor’s Grove was (surprisingly) exactly how I had imagined it. Who knew it would actually be green and bubbly? Some headstones were thrown into this pond by vandals. Volunteers have managed to save a few, but I wonder how many are still down there?A panorama of the cemetery (click for larger view, it’s worth it). This picture shows the overall feel of the cemetery, with the creepy green bubbling pond in the background.Panorama of the creepy bubbling pond (click for larger view). Rumor has it that the mob used to bring people out there to kill them and dump the bodies in the pond. I have a lot of respect for the people who dig headstones out of here…Some of the headstones are so broken it is impossible to tell what they used to say. I got a little creeped out when I was photographing this one, I’m not sure why. Maybe it was the atmosphere and the rumors of hauntings, but I didn’t linger here too long.Many stones were simply knocked over, but some stones like this one were completely moved from their original base.I loved walking the paths in Bachelor’s Grove and seeing each headstone, even the damaged ones were still quite beautiful.A fence surrounds much of the cemetery, but has broken down in many places through the years. It serves as more of a visual reminder of the cemetery’s boundaries than anything else.When I took this photo I had no idea that this headstone had been recently discovered in someone’s backyard, having disappeared from the cemetery sometime between 1969 and 1976. I wonder how many other headstones from this cemetery are in random backyards?I couldn’t resist photographing the famous “checkered base” that was the subject of a pretty popular picture of a “ghost” sitting on it. I am not sure what I expected to find when I looked at this picture later, because there was no ghost sitting there and I wasn’t at all surprised.We spent a long time in the cemetery and as you can imagine I took a ton of photos. I didn’t want to leave but I knew I couldn’t stay forever, and Matt was waiting in the car. However this was definitely an experience I will never forget!

The future of Bachelor’s Grove … Prison?

While reading up some more on Bachelor’s Grove before posting this blog, I ran across some recent events that have saddened me. It seems a headstone repair group, approached originally to help assist in repairing the cemetery, is pushing for the cemetery to be fenced off for good. This would mean that no one could go in Bachelor’s Grove, ever.

How sad for the families of the people buried here, to have to look in through a fence to see the graves of your loved ones, as if they are in a zoo or prison. I can’t imagine that the deceased would have wanted their resting place caged off from the outside world just because a headstone repair group prefers to keep their work pristine.

I think that fencing off Bachelor’s Grove will invite more crime to the area. The lawful people who want to visit and take care of the place will be shut out, while the mystique and interest of the cemetery for non-law abiding citizens will drastically increase.

I hope I get a chance to visit Bachelor’s Grove again and be able to walk the well worn paths of visitors, and hear the stories of the headstone recovery efforts without being shut out as if the deceased are in prison, never to be freed.

For more information about how to speak out against the efforts to permanently cage in the cemetery, see the right hand side of this website: bachelorsgrove.com.

That’s really interesting to read the last part. Plus, then, too, to see the date this was published. Geez, hadn’t heard much in the way of recent news about this place other than cleanup groups going through. Still, then, that’s such an odd idea to just close off the cemetery. Like you said, it’s just going to attract more negative attention/activity with vandals. Just seems like a dumb idea and, frankly, just a waste of money.

I was there today with my dog and my boyfriend. Took some fun pictures and went on a hike through the woods. My apartment is about 15 minutes from there. You need to walk the woods next time!!!!! The cemetery is well kept now, at least compared to the way it was. The weeds are cut down. Looks beautiful, actually.

What Is Graving?

About Me:

My name is Jenn and I live in Anchorage, Alaska.
I've had a fascination with cemeteries and genealogy ever since I was a child but never really got into it until I came across a site called Find A Grave.
Once I discovered the Find A Grave project and the hobby of graving I realized that I not only could explore my interests but also help people at the same time.
It feels great to be able to help someone find out where their loved ones are buried and send them pictures of the headstone if they can't visit right away.
I've come across a lot of amazing things and adventures while graving so I decided to start this graving blog so I could share it with you.